Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a substrate transfer robot having a cooling plate attached thereto for cooling a substrate during transfer operations.
Description of the Related Art
Substrates, such as rectangular sheets of glass, plastic, or other material, are typically used in the manufacture of flat panel displays, solar devices, and other similar applications. Materials to form such devices are deposited onto the substrates by one or more processes within a processing system having one or more processing chambers. The substrates are typically introduced into the processing system through a load lock chamber, transferred to one or more processing chambers by a transfer robot for high temperature processing, and then transferred to a load lock chamber for cooling prior to removal from the processing system.
Substrate throughput within processing systems and facilities is traditionally a concern. Industry is always looking for ways to increase substrate throughput and lessen system and facility downtime. The faster a substrate can be processed, the more substrates can be processed per hour.
Therefore, there is a need for apparatus and methods of increasing substrate throughput in substrate processing systems.